Abstract
This chapter demonstrates how the formation and expansion of middle classes in Africa have taken place within particular economic and political contexts. Research has either focused on the size of African middle classes and the related implications for development (what the author calls the dimension school) or on their political role (termed the statist school), considering them as too attached to the state to criticize or oppose it. The shortcomings of both approaches, Musyoka argues, can be explained by the middle class’ entanglement in a ‘double middle’ identity. The ‘first middle’ (the vertical middle) relates to class categorizations in terms of upper, middle, and lower classes. From a neo-Marxist perspective, the author argues that the danger of sliding back into poverty creates a potential for aggressive social and political action among members of African middle classes, to avoid downward mobility. The situatedness of African middle classes between poor past generations and a future generation which requires economic support constitutes a ‘second middle’ (horizontal middle). Both the vertical and horizontal identities produce political and social actions based on visions of sustainable incomes and wealth access, which can be contradictory to prevailing theoretical approaches.
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Notes
- 1.
The International Institute of Differing Civilizations was established in Brussels in 1884 as the ‘International Colonial Institute’ and was abolished in 1980.
- 2.
For a detailed argument in favour of horizontal and vertical pluralization, see Musyoka (2016).
- 3.
This argument is based on the fact that missionaries established schools and private hospitals, effectively creating a new social order in which African elites could expand. These indigenous elites were neither Western nor where they in the poor category.
- 4.
In the context of South Africa , Africans or African elites refer to black South Africans as opposed to white South Africans or Indian South Africans.
- 5.
The British used local institutions to govern their colonies to minimize conflicts.
- 6.
For more discussion on civil society and middle classes see Daniel and Neubert (2014).
- 7.
- 8.
The Lived Poverty Index is computed by establishing the degree in which basic necessities are absent or present. It is measured from 0 (no absence of basic necessities) to 4 (constant absence of all basic necessities).
- 9.
In 1955, Simon Kuznets argued that growth is accompanied by inequalities in the first few years of economic growth . Southern Africa, however, seems to have maintained high levels of inequality for over two decades (Kuznets 1955).
- 10.
For further discussion on entanglement , see Musyoka (2016).
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Musyoka, J. (2018). African Middle Classes: Formation and Destabilizing Effects. In: Kroeker, L., O'Kane, D., Scharrer, T. (eds) Middle Classes in Africa. Frontiers of Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62148-7_10
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